Pushed Into Precarity: Costa Rican Anti-Asylum Decrees and Nicaraguan Migrant Labor

This paper analyzes how Costa Rica’s 2022 anti-asylum migration decrees have reshaped the legal, economic, and developmental conditions of Nicaraguan migrants. Using historical-structural and dual labor market theories, this study demonstrates how Costa Rica’s evolving migration regime increasingly functions as a mechanism of labor extraction rather than humanitarian protection. Through an examination of legal reforms, labor market segmentation, and development indicators, the paper argues that recent policies institutionalize migrant vulnerability while simultaneously benefiting key sectors of the Costa Rican economy. Ultimately, it contends that this approach undermines both migrant human development and Costa Rica’s long-term inclusive development goals.